Over and over again

Good question, section heading! I don’t know. As I said at the start, a lot of my DVDs have now been released in HD formats. Do I want to bother ripping a standard-definition copy of a movie or TV show that’s now available in HD? Perhaps I should just wait for the next time I want to watch it, and buy it on iTunes, or buy the Blu-ray, or stream it from Netflix or Amazon. I’m not converting a lot of standard-def video these days.

I’m not buying many Blu-rays these days, but sometimes the format just offers more content than is available via download. And of course, even when those Blu-rays come with digital copies, the copies are often in standard definition or trapped behind hinky apps and UI. An example: When I bought the J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” on Blu-ray, it came with a standard-definition digital copy. When I want to watch “Star Trek” on my iPad on a trip, what version do I watch? The ripped Blu-ray, of course.

Will I ever really convert my entire video collection to digital formats? I suspect I will probably convert the stuff that’s not readily available elsewhere—these World Series games are never gonna be on Netflix—and deem much of the rest of it disposable.